Life is just a box of stories (and writing courses)
The logic of story Our 14-day coaching programme, The Logic of Story, begins in just four short days on May 7. It explores the ways in which writers can “glue” […]
Writing Secrets: What characters want
Even seasoned writers sometimes forget about what characters want. The more we work with writers and their stories, the more I’ve come to realise that “wanting” is the very essence […]
Monday Motivation: ‘Mission Impossible’ and the meme of the ticking clock
Idly in search of ideas that might amuse and instruct you, I found myself watching one of the interminable Mission Impossible movies, in which the utterly and impossibly intrepid Ethan […]
Writing Secrets: Story can’t exist in splendid isolation
Story exists because of characters – and what those characters want. This was brought home to me again recently by an exercise we set in one of our courses. We […]
Monday Motivation: A single, simple premise
I haven’t seen Lady Bird, winner of one of the top awards at the Golden Globes last night, but I have read the script – and one of its features […]
Writing Secrets: Shut up and write – you’re not boring the readers
One of our mentoring participants is busy writing a charming memoir about settling in a small community – trying to make friends and build a meaningful life among the sometimes […]
Monday Motivation: Into the clear light of dramatic truth
We’re about to cruise past Torghatten, a mountain on an island a kilometre or two off the Norwegian mainland, and just half an hour south of the Arctic Circle. It’s […]
Monday Motivation: Beginnings and Ends
Stephen King said in On Writing that writing a story is a little like digging up a fossil. You spot a fragment of skull protruding from the rock. You carefully […]
Monday Motivation: It’s the plumbing, stupid
Here’s a thing: I bought a David Baldacci novel this weekend. I’m not sure that I’ve read him before, although it’s hardly possible to avoid Baldaccis in any given airport, […]
